FOX RANCHES.
It is estimated that at present nearly 50 of the Aleutian Islands
have fox ranches, most of which are said to have been successfully
managed. Thus far the Government has rented the islands for this
purpose at $100 per year. Some years ago the revenue cutter Perry was
sent to the Archipelago by the Treasury Department for the express
purpose of ascertaining the location of the islands used for fox
ranches. The Government's agents were not long in finding out that in
several instances the fox raisers had appropriated islands for which
they were paying no rental. These persons were brought up with a
sharp turn and ordered to pay up or shut up shop.
It seems quite clear that where proper business methods have been
followed the ranches, without exception, have succeeded thus far, and
will prove immensely valuable in the future. On some of the islands
the work has been going on for 12 or 15 years, and three of them now
have a fox population of more than 1,000 each. The first method was
to begin operations by turning loose on an island several pairs of
foxes. In some instances the animals have increased rapidly, with the
result that in a year or so it had become apparent that $150 or $200
paid for a pair of mated animals was likely to prove a good
investment.
[Illustration: NORTHERN FOX TRAPPER'S DOG TEAM.]
The original project was to breed the silver gray fox, as the fur of
this animal is much more valuable than that of the commoner
varieties. A good silver gray pelt is worth about $50 to the original
seller, while $15 or thereabout is the price for the pelt of the blue
fox. But the silver gray has many peculiarities which make its
domestication exceedingly difficult, practically impossible, in fact.
It is much given to devouring its young, and it has many of the
characteristics of the wolf. At present only one of the islands is
given up to the silver grays, and the animals do not increase
rapidly.
The blue fox, so called, is handled much more successfully. It is
readily tamed, and if kindly treated soon becomes so domestic that it
will take food from the keeper's hand. The food usually is fish,
either cooked or raw, and a mixture of corn meal and tallow. Reynard
gets these rations, and all he wants of them, for ten months in the
year, the food being supplied steadily except during the two
midsummer months. It is estimated that the average cost of the
rations is $1.50 per fox per year. There are two or three keepers for
each ranch who devote all their time the year around to their
charges.
From November 20 to January 20 is the open season for foxes on the
islands, and box traps, rather than dead falls or steel traps, are
used. This is done because all the female animals are released, after
having been marked, and also one male for every six of the opposite
sex. The average age for killing is about 18 months, although the
pelt of an animal eight months old is fully developed, and, despite
some theories to the contrary, the fur does not necessarily improve
with age. On some of the larger farms, the box trap method of
catching the foxes has been given up, as being too slow, for baiting
the animals near a small corral.
During the months preceding the killing time, the food for the foxes
is placed near the site of this corral, in order to accustom the
animals to coming to that locality, and also in order to tame them.
Under this treatment the foxes lose their shyness and shrewdness to
such an extent that they not only enter the corral freely, but the
female or male which has once been released after having been
examined and marked, frequently enters the corral again. It is
reported that in some instances the same animal has been caught three
or four times in the same night.